1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to an improvement in rudder blade performance, and more specifically relates to an improvement designed to alleviate the effects of disturbed laminar flow arising from cavitation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A search of United States patents that was conducted prior to the filing of this disclosure located the following patents in the general field of this invention:
______________________________________ Patentee U.S. Pat. No. Date ot Issue ______________________________________ Mello 2,961,987 11-29-60 Hill et. al. 3,326,296 06-20-67 Lane 3,452,701 07-01-69 Yuan 3,472,192 10-14-69 English 3,680,511 08-01-72 ______________________________________
The field of search included Class/sub-class 114/162, 126, 122 and 66.5.
Clearly, considerable effort has been expended by inventors in efforts to produce rudder blade designs having operating characteristics superior to the conventional rudder blade designs. Although the earlier designs may have utility in their intended area of application, a rudder blade design that reduces cavitation to negligible amounts does not appear in the prior art.